The News That Matters about the Nuclear Industry

Under Abe, the government has also agreed to start discussing a nuclear energy pact with Saudi Arabia ….The government hopes that the contract with Turkey will improve Japan’s chances in winning competition for nuclear power projects in Vietnam, India and Russia,

In a speech at an International Olympic Committee meeting in September before the IOC members picked Tokyo to host the 2020 Games, Abe said, “The situation is under control,” referring to the radioactive water problem.

“How dare he sell nuclear power plants abroad when he has not been able to bring an accident under control?”

Abe leads nuclear plant exports while problems pile up at homeAsahi ShimbunOctober 31, 2013As the Abe administration crows about Japan’s first nuclear plant export after the 2011 disaster, it continues to face the daunting tasks of containing radioactive water at the stricken Fukushima plant and cleaning up contaminated communities.

“I’m delighted that commercial negotiations on a nuclear plant contract have been completed and an agreement has been reached,” a beaming Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said at a news conference in Istanbul on Oct. 29.

The Turkish government the same day signed an agreement with a consortium led by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. to build four nuclear reactors in the Black Sea city of Sinop at an estimated cost of more than $22 billion (2 trillion yen).

Since he took office in December, Abe has been pushing exports of nuclear power plants, among other infrastructure facilities, as a pillar of his economic growth strategy.

His latest trip to Turkey came only five months after his last visit to discuss nuclear cooperation with Recep Tayyip Erdogan, his Turkish counterpart.

“The deal was sealed in one go,” said an aide to Abe, attributing the success to the prime minister’s initiative………

The Abe administration has signed a nuclear energy agreement, a precondition for exporting nuclear technology, with Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.

Under Abe, the government has also agreed to start discussing a nuclear energy pact with Saudi Arabia and resumed talks with India, which were suspended after meltdowns at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in March 2011.

The government hopes that the contract with Turkey will improve Japan’s chances in winning competition for nuclear power projects in Vietnam, India and Russia, among other countries…….

At the Fukushima No. 1 plant, operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. has spent months struggling to keep ever-increasing radioactive water from leaking from storage tanks and other facilities.

In a speech at an International Olympic Committee meeting in September before the IOC members picked Tokyo to host the 2020 Games, Abe said, “The situation is under control,” referring to the radioactive water problem.

But leaks have continued, with some water believed to be finding its way into the Pacific Ocean. Groundwater has been contaminated after mixing with water used to cool the reactors in which melted fuel is still releasing heat.

High levels of radioactive materials have also been detected in drainage ditches and observation wells on the premises………

Some estimate that 10 trillion yen will be required for decontamination, decommissioning and compensation to disaster victims, with clean-up operations accounting for half of the costs.

LDP panel members said TEPCO will not be able to shoulder the costs alone, and the nuclear crisis cannot be brought under control as long as the government leaves the task solely in the company’s hands.

Still, some members of the LDP and junior coalition partner New Komeito are opposed to forking out taxpayer money for post-disaster operations in what would amount to a government bailout of TEPCO.

Some of the disaster victims were clearly not happy with Abe’s push for nuclear plant exports while problems continue to mount in Japan.

“How dare he sell nuclear power plants abroad when he has not been able to bring an accident under control?” asked Saito, chief of an association of temporary housing residents in Iwaki in the same prefecture. “What does he think of victims of the nuclear disaster?”